Category: Set-Up

It’s official product number was: 400.306.27 – made of steel, built in the Czech Republic.

I have a few of them, but I almost never use them.

That said, your computer should NOT be on the floor. What with all the air blowing and the electricity flowing a computer is a dust magnet. On the floor your PC will suck up ever stray hair and bit of dust kicked up by your feet. Bad idea.

Instead of the CPU holder I mostly use the swing shelves to hold my PCs. They’re sturdy, can hold your PC without an elaborate and ungainly unstrapping process. But, if space is tight, and or you don’t have a free swing arm I guess you can use a CPU Holder. Am I wrong about this? This thing is basically a stupid product isn’t it?

Anyway, here’s a photo of a pair of my PCs on a swing arm. I bought these towers a while ago.

My most recent PC is in a smaller tower (deliberately chosen so as to be more compact under the desk) and in use under a standing desk setup. Here’s a pic of that:

the CPU Holder is also a stupid name for this thing, why is it a “Central Processing Unit” holder? Shouldn’t it be a computer holder? Or a PC holder? Or a tower mount? Or something?

You will note that the basic Jerker doesn’t include the “Swing Shelves” (aka the Hinged Printer Shelves). They were optional, not stock, so I haven’t included them in this contest.

The stock Fredde comes with two 22.5cm wide “small shelves” that are relocatable either “inside or outside the side panels” This accounts for the variable width of the Fredde.

Results:

Who’s taller?
Assuming you have no height extenders, available option for the Jerker, the Fredde is 2cm taller.

Who’s deeper?
The Jerker is 16cm deeper than the Fredde.

Who’s wider?
Whether the side shelves are deployed outside or inside the side panels, the stock Fredde is wider than the Jerker by a minimum of 14cm (up to 59cm).

What else?
The Fredde has some very appealing features. It is wider and shallower (the Jerker was designed in the CRT era whereas the Fredde was designed to allow two 24inch “flat screen monitors”). The Fredde is lighter. It comes with two “small shelves” suitable for holding speakers. It is available at Ikea right now. It only comes in black. It has cupholders.

The Jerker, like the Fredde had a “contoured…top [that] allows you to sit close and supports your wrists and forearms”, but it came in multiple colours than the Fredde (including Black, Beech, Birch, and White) and is completely height-adjustable.

The Jerker can also be converted to a standing desk, whereas the mutability of the Fredde is limited to just being able to move the two included side shelves up and down or removing the top shelf to accommodate a vertically oriented monitor. Both the Fredde and the Jerker are made from steel and melamine covered fiberboard. But, the Jerker is heavy duty. Yet, even though it isn’t available at Ikea anymore, it is still very available on secondary markets (like Craigslist) due to it’s near indestructibility. The Fredde has built-in cupholders. The Jerker does not have cupholders.

Further considerations:
The Fredde comes with two raised lower shelves, suitable for holding both a mid-to-large desktop computer and a comparably large box, like a subwoofer. The Jerker had no such dedicated shelves, but had many separately sold accessories (all interlockable like LEGO) and many are still available on the secondary market.

Even though I’ve attached a massive 12 port power strip (measuring four feet long) to the bottom of each of my Ikea Jerkers, I’m still always finding myself in need of handier task based power.

Luckily, a few years ago I bought a few of the Powramid “power centers” – these are basically power strips with integrated surge protectors in the shape of a 6 sided pyramid.

Like most power strips the Powramid comes with a couple of basic secure points on the base. I fiddled around with these a bit, trying different sizes of bolts and wingnuts, until I managed to mount one to my Ikea Jerker standing desk. Here’s how I did it:

The Powramids I bought were made by a company called Kreative Power, but it appears they are now being made by a company called Accell Cables. Here’s look at the bottom of one of them:

I used a small bolt and a wingnut to attach one side in a desktop test.

Then, I did it for real, securing a Powramid to a leg in combination with a single ziptie.

And I assume you’d like to see how secure it is so here’s what it looks like on video:

When I started using Ikea Jerkers (or collecting them might be a better way of putting it) I started with the Version 1. I paid $200 for it and collected about five or six (or maybe seven) after that. I ultimately settled on the “birch” coloured one, in part because I liked it better, in part because it’s legs always came in grey (the same colour as all version 2 legs). But at some point in my Jerker journey I decided to make the switch from Version 1 to Version 2. And here’s why:

That’s my old Ikea Jerker version 1 desktop sitting inverted atop my then new first version 2 desktop. Can you see the size difference? The version 2 is wider and deeper.

I loved the pull out arms of the Version 1. [btw, the big drill hole at the center of the back of the Version 1 desktop was my addition and not a built in feature]

But, as you can see, while they get you closer to the desk (and look awesome) when they’re extended they don’t ultimately increase your desktop area as much as the Version 2 can.

Further, the Version 1 legs are somewhat troublesome (being both shorter and deeper) they take up valuable floorspace and don’t offer as much secure verticality as the Version 2 legs.

Check out one of my 2013 Version 1 builds (below) and note how close to the desktop the top of the leg ends are and how it thus requires more extensions and more connections (and thus more concomitant floppiness).

Have a look at the replacement, my first Version 2 just as I was setting up and note the increased desktop space. [BTW, just to it’s left is a hybrid construction connecting multiple Ikea Jerker 1 shelves with a pair of Ikea Jerker Version 2 legs]

I love the version one, but can see little reason to actually use it myself. Do you have a story regarding your preference for the Version 1 to the Version 2 or vice versa?

The Ikea Jerker was designed in the days of CRTs – you remember, those big heavy deep monitors that cost a ton and weighed a ton – in fact, the Jerker version 1 came with the a 45cm (17.7 inches) deep monitor shelf – that thing is designed to withstand 100lb monster 27″ CRTs! The version 1 add-on shelf and all version 2 shelves are a much more sensible 35cm (13.7 inches) deep. Designed for LCDs, they’re also able to hold hard drives, staplers, and earbuds. But, I’m of the school that monitors should hang, not rest. And though big is good, maybe biggest isn’t best.

I’ve had my Jerkers set up in many configurations, the biggest being with three side monitors (a combination of Samsung 23″ and 24″) and one big Viewsonic 27″. But in my constant quest for the perfect Jerker workstation I’ve come up with a pretty terrific combination (at least for me).

I used a combination of an LG 34″ Ultrawide model 34UM65 (pictured as “1” in landscape mode on the left) and a tiny 16″ ACER X163W widescreen (pictured as “2” in portrait mode on the right).

My sit-down Jerker setup:

And because it worked so well I actually replicated the exact setup for my Jerker standing desk:

With the monitors mentioned, and mounted on the slightly modded Vista vesa mounts, I get enough clearance on the left, top, right, and bottom for ventilation, re positioning (a rare occurrence), and the mounting of lights and swing arms on the legs to left and right. Here’s a little map:

Designed as a standalone shelf, the Ekby Alex drawer unit can make a very, very useful addition to an Ikea Jerker (version 2) desk.

Official Ikea Jerker drawers are pretty hard to come by, in part because they were an optional item, in part because they’re were not designed to be paired with for ⅔rds of the Jerker desk designs.

But, the Ekby Alex drawer shelf just so happens, and believe me I was very excited when I found out, to fit absolutely perfectly between the legs of an Ikea Jerker (version 2) desk. You could place one of these units on a top shelf, but the fact is, even if you use it where it is most hand, on the desktop, it still leaves you with lots of desk-space for keyboard, mouse, joystick, and similar peripherals.

The Alex Ekby comes in one long box. It’s actually manageable to carry out of the store, but is a bit heavy, weighing 12kg (27lbs). The build time is about a half-hour. In addition to the parts an pieces in the box you’ll also need a hammer (the back is assembled with about thirty little nails), a flathead screwdriver and a Phillips head screwdriver.

Here’s a video showing the whole build process:

As mentioned in the video, be sure to note the sizes of the connector pieces, in my build I didn’t at first distinguish between them and it took a bit of time to straighten my mess out.

Once together, I found the Alex Ekby to be a very sturdy little shelf drawer set.

One other point to bear in mind, the drawers only pull out slightly more than half way; but the insides of the two drawers have plenty of space: The horizontal space measures, front to back 24cm (9.5 inches) and 54cm (21.25 inches) from side to side. And the depth is a mere 5.75cm (2.5 inches). One drawer will fit one ream of printer paper and dozens of pens pencils, erasers, a couple of pairs of scissors and a stapler. But most tape guns, office sized tape dispensers, and three hole punchers will not fit in these drawers.

Here are photos of mine in use.

And, for those Jerker owners don’t have enough top shelves, or just want to be different, you can also use the Alex Ekby (or two?) as a monitor riser. The Alex Ekby is rated to support 22kg (44 lbs) and each would raise your monitor by 11.5cm (4.5 inches).

It allows for fast and efficient secure storage using biometrics. And since it doesn’t have access to the internet or bluetooth, it is essentially unhackable without being in the room with it. In essence, it has all the advantages of an iPhone fingerprint scan with none of the compromises.

The Barska BX-300 is fast, eliminates the worry about people checking out your password or lock combination.

And here’s the pictures I took during installation:

The original holes in the swing arm shelf are circled in red, and the new drilled holes for mounting to the bottom of the Barska BX-300 are circled in blue.

Widening a countersink for the central bolt.

Here’s the bottom of the Barska safe, the slot aligns nearly perfectly with the thickness of a swing arm shelf.

Here’s the bottom of the swing arm shelf with the holes drilled through.

The inside of the safe, bolted to the arm’s shelf.

Here’s the included carpet for the interior bottom of the safe.

Freeing up space for on top.

Here it is in place. The safe, all steel, weighs 25 pounds and measures 16.5″ x 14.5″ x 7.75″. Also cool, you can place a full size laser printer on top (the swing arms are rated for up to 70 pounds).